Camp NaNo Winner!

It is official! I have won my second NaNo. Two days ago I broke the 50,000 word mark and have been waiting for validation to begin. Today, upon waking up I logged on to the Camp NaNo website and there is was….the big red ribbon that said “WINNER.”

I’ve never won anything before, well except for November NaNo last year. It feels good to see something through to the end. But I have a great deal of work yet ahead of me. It took me six months to take Kodiak Rising Part One’s draft from November to the point it is at now, but Part Two proved to be far more ellusive.

About half-way through the process I discovered I had written myself into a corner and had no idea how to get out of it. The only answer is to scrap it and forget it’s ever been written. I had to move on. I had to write something else. So, in addition to having two drafts of the first two chapters, I have a middle section that just can’t work. And if it can work, it will simply have to be used in a much much later place than it is slotted right now, which leads me to believe that this will indeed be a three-part novella.

As Part One sits, it’s rather short for a full-length novel at only 59,000 words. But Part Two…..well, it’s a total disaster. I do have 50,000+ words written in a draft format, but I feel that only 50% of it will be worth saving.

So, in order to help Jake and his friends along, I plan on spending the time between now and November identifying what scenes are worthy of making the cut and what scenes can remain forgotten (for the time being.) Then, I need to fill in the gaps. I have a basic plan in my head about what actually needs to happen and I’m not discounting that certain things slotted for Part Two really should be in Part One. Two characters in particular come to mind when I think about adding a scene or two in Part One somewhere. These two characters have a large roll in Part Two but not so much in Part One. One characters you’ve met, Johnny St. George. He has a minor roll in Part One, has a conversation or two when Jake, but that’s about all. In Part Two his story becomes more fleshed out, more real, more important. However, another character named Caleb never made an appearance in Part One. Of course, there is a scene in Part One that he could (and should) be added into. It would be pretty simple. My only concern is that between their mention in Part One, are they forgotten about by Part Two? Do I need to mention them more than once? Probably.

My mother is not a good gauge of this….Johnny St. George is her father, so of COURSE she knows he’s in the novel and OF COURSE she recognizes him immediately! I didn’t even change his name. But Caleb….if I am not careful he could be very easily forgotten about. I will have to think about him very hard in the coming months.

This November will be the next NaNo which I intend to participate in. My original theory was that I would be drafting Part Three at this time, but with the state Part Two is in now I don’t see that as reality. I think I will re-draft Part Two again this November based on what I learned during this experience and hopefully end up with an actual story and not a series of scenes out of order that I may or may not be able to use.

But now, with the race to 50K behind me this month I can now turn my attention back to this place and to you, gentle reader. Please accept my humblest apologies for neglecting you and leaving you hanging for days almost weeks at a time. I plan to return to “Get Out of the City” and possibly bring you a new story very soon. Maybe something less Post-Apocalyptic.

In other news, my little one, Ezio, went to the vet for his final round of kitten shots. There are no signs of worms anymore, he’s fully recovered from his neutering, and he even gained a whole pound. The vet seemed delighted to see him getting bigger. His big brother, Rufus, is much more accepting of him at home now. We still have a few spats now and then. It usually occurs when we’re in bed. If Ezio is not in bed Rufus will hop up and purr on us, but the second Ezio comes up to join us Rufus stops purring, hisses and leaves. Last night we tried to run the A/C in the bedroom, and that ended badly. Rufus growled, then hissed and slashed at my husband, hopped off the bed, growled at Ezio, then attacked the little one. Ezio didn’t get hurt, Rufus was just asserting his dominance. When I tried to pet Rufus a few moments later to calm his down he hissed and slashed at me. Now, Rufus is pretty docile. He never gets violent with us. But, he does not like sharing the bed with the baby, and I suppose he needed us to understand that that is still not okay. Rufus will share the couch with Ezio. If I’m sitting in the middle, they will sit on either side of me. Baby steps. Eventually they’ll love each other and snuggle in bed with us.

Well, gentle reader, that is all for my report. Stay tuned for new fresh work. I also have a coming project not related to writing, but scanning. I have recently be given my grandfathers photo album from WWII. Good old Johnny loved to take pictures and he documented EVERYTHING! It’s a treasure trove of beauty and long forgotten time. Perhaps I will share some of these unique treasures with you soon.

The present is simply the knowledge that you achieved something not many people do. You get eternal bragging rights and a neat little picture that says you won something. In addition, I get 50% off a full license to Scrivner, but I already have it because I got the same discount last November.

Very well done Terrii. I am drafting a post for tomorrow evening about a an unusual special writer who is entering NaNoWriMo in November I think for the fifth year !! Keep an eye out for the post on http://bluefishway.com/ . Now back to you. Quite an achievement. I do not know you but I am very proud of you. Take care. Ralph